Kelly Young

Kelly Young is an advocate providing ways for patients to be better informed and have a greater voice in their healthcare. She is the president of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation. Kelly received national acknowledgement with the 2011 WebMD Health Hero award. Through her writing, speaking, and use of social media, she is building a more accurate awareness of Rheumatoid disease aka Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) geared toward the public and medical community; creating ways to empower patients to advocate for improved diagnosis and treatment; and bringing recognition and visibility to the Rheumatoid patient journey. In 2009, Kelly created Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior, a comprehensive website about RA of about 950 pages and writes periodically for other newsletters and websites. Kelly served on the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media Advisory Board. There are over 42,000 connections of her highly interactive Facebook Fan page. She created the hashtag: #rheum. Kelly is the mother of five, a home-schooler, Bible teacher, NASA enthusiast, and NFL fan. You can also connect with Kelly by on Twitter or YouTube, or LinkedIn. She has lived over nine years with unrelenting Rheumatoid disease.
See also http://www.rawarrior.com/kelly-young-press/

36 thoughts on “Video: Thoughts from American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2010”

Thank you Kelly! I know that this journey must have been quite the adventure for an RA patient. Thank you’s also to the doctors who gave you their time. And a huge appreciation goes out your daughter for being your traveling companion. We’re all looking forward to reading your upcoming blogs about what you learned.

Thank you so much for doing all this on our behalf. I hope you are not too tired and sore after all the excitement of the conference.
Wow Chicago next year.. Love that city! Shame I couldn’t be there too.
We all look forward to reading everything you have learned.
Xx

Jakki, thank you for your constant support of others through my site. It supports me to see it. Eular is in London next spring & its a long shot but maybe I could get sponsorship & we could end up having tea together! :heart:

I’m so happy that you had a wonderful experience at ACR. I sent you an email regarding a similar experience I had of my own and there is some really exciting news, work and research going on for RA patients. I look forward to the upcoming posts about all that you’ve learned.

I know it took a lot of energy and “spoons” to take part in this conference, so just wanted to add my thanks for doing it on our behalf and for our education, too. I especially thought about the energy it takes, as I had to cancel a writing group and a gift opera in HD ticket, just due to the added burden of a small respiratory infection and its effects (and having to go off Enbrel for a week to heal). I’ve been so well for so long now with the Enbrel I’ve gotten spoiled, but I know you haven’t reached that point yet. Soon for you, I hope.

This was exciting to watch Kelly. Can’t wait to hear all the details. I have to agree with Gina about your hair, it’s the first thing I noticed. It looks simply fabulous darling. I can’t imagine how you managed this week physically, adrenaline pumping? I’m glad it was worth it! Thank you :clap:

🙂 I’m so blessed to have such sweet friends. Gina knew I wished I could have my hair done since we had talked right before I left & I had spent the week in bed – not at the hairdresser etc. But you both must know it meant so much to me to try to look “normal” to talk with so many strangers.
How I got through it? It was very hard. Almost every minute I was at the point of trying my hardest. People w/out RA have no idea what that’s like – like you are at the end of a race – only during the whole race.

Oh Kelli – I’m sorry I couldn’t make it down to the meeting and to try to catch up with you, but it sounds like you were pretty busy 24/7 the entire time. Hope you rented that scooter! Ten acres is a LOT of space! Looking forward to seeing your reports about the meeting. Can’t get to Chicago for next year’s meeting, so, as most of us will, I’ll have to wait until you report on it! Any reactions to the PSA from the ACR members?
And did you, perchance, meet my wonderful Dr. Hays Wilson? Or his lovely wife Dr. Kimberly Wilson? Both Rheumatologists par excellence and in practice together.
Enough for now. Get some rest for now and try to recover.
Gosh, I’m glad you were there for us!

I did not meet them – I’m sorry. Maybe another time, if we could set up something in advance. There are over 15,000 docs there from what I hear. Extremely crowded. Actually, it seems so quiet here now to be home!

Kelly,
What a great opportunity to be that patient with a press pass! I am so thrilled for you and I know so many will be served greatly by your perspective and the knowledge that you have gained from attending this event. Way to go my warrior friend!
Amy

Hooray for Kelly! What a blessing to have you representing us! We all excitedly await your next posts. But do not forget to take care of your body first. I would be willing to bet that you will “hit a wall” and need to recouperate a bit first. Don’t worry… we are standing by “patiently”.
(PS – I agree that you do look lovely in your video!) -Suzy

My favorite part: “There might never be another ACR without a patient voice.” What wonderful influence you are having on the rheumatology community! I am grateful for all the helpful information here on your blog.

Me too, Susan. I am so happy I was able to say that without tears! It hit me hard that last afternoon, so I think I sat down to make the video just to make that point. It seemed like a turning point for me, but also for our community like you said. I’m so grateful for people like you who get it & take time to comment.

Kelly , you looked so good, and sounded so happy. That is great to witness via the video. Your spirit looked uplifted and fulfilled. I hope you can find more opportunities to continue with that uplifted spirit. I want to see that same smile on your face! Thank you to you and Katie Beth!

Just watched this first video; wow; to think there will probably never be another ACR w/out patient presence. THANK YOU KELLY: even w/out all the benefits I know you got from this conference for all of us; that was worth it.

Kelly, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do. I am a bit new at all of this and all your information and support with the facebook page have made a world of difference in not feeling ignorant or alone. God Bless and I hope you don’t suffer too much from your trip, Take Care and agree with the others you were lovely in the psa and our hero.

Kelly, what an amazing adventure! I am pretty new to all this RA stuff, but have done my fair share of crawling around the internet trying to understand this illness and it’s complexities and it has been daunting. Your website has been the place I always come back to because it is the only one I’ve found that has real information about RA. Now I understand why – because you are doing things like this. My hat is off to you. I don’t even think I would have had the energy to do all you do before I got sick. I can only say THANK YOU again and again for all the information and comfort your website provides and all the hard work you put into it to make it real and informative. God Bless.

Kelly, I have to tell you, I am so envious. Being able to find out what is going on in the world of rheumatology and see all of the various ins/outs of arthritis and its research is such an incredible opportunity. It is one thing to read about it, but to be able to see and interact with those doctors and researchers is awesome. I look forward to your followup views!! I’m glad it is in Chicago next year, maybe we can time it with the first annual RA Warriors Conference!!!! Woohoo!! :dance:

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Thanks for visiting this unique site full of information and encouragement to fight Rheumatoid Disease. You'll find hope, humor, and a helpful online community. I'm Kelly & I'll be glad to show you around if you'll click right here.